Whether one or more cabinets are used in a cafeteria-type self-service food line depends upon the number and variety of dishes offered to the patrons, including hot and cold items requiring separate replenishable dispensing cabinets that provide critical display temperatures required for both serving and overnight storage.
A variety of countertop dishes, which includes hot and cold food, generally require a long display line for selection and serving, and some logical sequence of items is attempted for the convenience of patrons that move along a self-serving rail with trays. However, patrons very often go back to return or pick up a dish which was previously considered. Even with a short self-serving counter of display cabinets, this "change of mind" phenomenon causes undesirable confusion for everyone under crowded conditions, and, the number of cabinets required for different dishes add to the confusion and display dispensing expense.
In the interest of conserving floor space and reducing "change of mind" trips, their length and confusion, it is particularly desirable to concentrate a group of like selections where like dishes may be viewed preferably within a short counter serving distance on see through vertically spaced shelves so that orderly selections can be made quickly as patrons move along. Also, in reducing self-service confusion, it is desirable and economical for both the customers and the proprietor, to enclose certain groups of selectible items on vertically spaced shelves and economically chill, or heat, and/or humidify them on the shelves under sanitary conditions above a counter level and in cabinets having rollable, self-closing doors on both sides that are easily opened for replenishment from either side and dispensing on the opposite side depending on the relative direction of customer movement; or the nearness to the kitchen or to extra storage refrigerators; the desired temperature of serving dishes; and the relative locations of cold and hot items in the cabinet compartments with or without the doors being held open or room drafts being involved.